Tesco service offers speedy delivery

It aims to slash the time shoppers have to wait

Supermarket chain Tesco has launched a new home shopping service which it claims will slash the amount of time people spend waiting in for deliveries.

Tesco Direct will offer next-day delivery of more than 8,000 non-food products – ranging from furniture and kitchenware to electricals.

A survey by the supermarket reported that, over the past year, 63 per cent of shoppers have had to wait in for a day or more for a single, small item to be delivered. A further 36 per cent complained about having to wait weeks for a furniture order delivery.

Tesco Direct will offer the option of a two-hour time slot for smaller deliveries, while the supermarket promises it will deliver larger items such as beds and sofas within five to ten days.

Shoppers will be able to order a product online, by phone, or at selected stores and there will be a flat rate charge of £4.85 for next-day delivery, rising to £6.85 for a two-hour slot for smaller items.

Waiting in

The new Tesco Direct site will be launched on September 6. The two-hour time slot service will be available nationally from November.

Andrew Higginson, Tesco Finance and Strategy Director, said ‘We recognise the key stress areas for customers when it comes to home shopping and have taken these on board along with our experience in home shopping to shape Tesco Direct. The aim is to create a service that works to our customer’s timeframe, not ours.’

A survey by Which? in May found that people were spending nearly three working days a year waiting in for workmen and deliveries to turn up.

We found that householders spent around 14 million working days waiting in for deliveries that didn’t arrive when promised.

Computers took longer

Computer goods took longer to arrive than any other type of delivery, followed by home electricals and furniture.

In the survey, almost half the deliveries had a time slot of five hours or more and just 6 per cent were promised for an exact time.